New Ears
by pyroleigh
Summary: Louise loses her bunny ears in a prank gone wrong. Logan, away at college, finds out and sets about to make it right. Cute innocent Louigan fluff, Louise 14, Logan 21. T for slight language.
Louise backed away from the approaching upperclassmen, the letterman jackets closing in around her. She bumped into what felt like a solid wall and paled as she looked up into the eyes of a very pissed off senior, his dark eyes narrowed to slits. Maybe her prank had gone too far, but how was the freshman supposed to know that they'd get so mad over a little hair removal cream in their shampoo bottles? "Louise Belcher," the quarterback sneered the name, his now buzzed hair starting to grow out in the bald patches. "Here you are."

'Shit,' she thought to herself, realizing the hallways were suspiciously empty for the time. 'Since when has everyone been gone right after school lets out?!' Panic filled her small frame, all hints of bravery having flown out the window the second three of them cornered her down a dead end hallway. "Hey guys," she said with a strained smile that looked like a grimace.

"You're going down freshman!" the linebacker spat angrily, two of them lunging at her. Despite the size of the bulk hidden by their letterman jackets they moved incredibly fast and Louise found herself gripped by two of them, their grip harder than any she had felt before. The quarterback approached and she boldly met his gaze, feigning a strength she didn't feel.

"What to do..." he tapped his chin thoughtfully and she snorted despite the situation.

'Seriously?' she mused to herself. 'They corner me and have no idea?'

"I know," he sneered down at her and Louise knew what was going to happen as his hand lashed out.

"NO!" she screamed as the brute's hand gripped her pink bunny ears. She felt the familiar weight lift from her head and let out an unintelligible scream. She glared at the tall teen, anger boiling her gut. "GIVE IT BACK!"

"Oh no," he whispered menacingly. "You're never getting this ugly ass thing back!" He took two steps back and reached a hand into his pocket. Louise paled as he pulled out a lighter.

"No," she shook her hatless head and struggled against the hands holding her back. "Please no!" The lighter flicked to life and she paled.

"Don't mess with us," the quarterback said as he held the tips of her precious ears to the eager flame. Louise watched in horror as they sparked, the ends vanishing in black smoke. The quarterback held onto it until the flame reached the cap, then dropped the ruined ears to the ground. The flames licked up the last of the pink and he stomped down on it with a heavy sneaker, Louise feeling each stomp like a punch.

They let her go and she slumped to the floor, her eyes welling with tears as they went down the hall. She moved forward on her knees to the burned pile of ash that was once her most prized possession, tears now falling down her cheeks without restraint. Those ears were her everything. They made her... her. Now, they were gone. Who was Louise Belcher without them?

XxX

Louise walked home in a daze, her notebook against her chest. Her mind went back to being nine years old, and the blonde idiot who had stolen her ears then. Logan, the teenager who at the time she found intolerable. She had followed him, threatened him, but in the end, by threat of Critter cutting off his ear, he'd given them back. He had stolen them, and she hated him for it, but he had taken care of them. It took weeks for the smell of his shampoo and body spray to fade, and Louise would never admit that she had laid in her bed at night, sniffing the foreign scent and committing it to memory.

Her mind went over the last time she'd seen him, how he'd hesitated before walking away from her, as if wanting to say more than he had. She let her thoughts trail off to what he was possibly doing now. He went off the college three years ago, his mom obnoxiously happy to see him go. They had traded idle threats over email for awhile, but Louise stopped responding when Gene found out. He had still sent messages for about a week after she stopped, his words lost the teasing tone and turned worried. Then just like that he stopped. She tried to tell herself it didn't matter what that idiot got up to, what he was doing, who he was seeing, but knew she was just lying to herself. The truth of it was she had a crush on the annoying teen, one that she didn't know how to handle.

'Not a teen anymore,' she mused to herself as she walked past the community garden towards her parent's restaurant, the Christmas lights twinkling in the fading light. 'He's a man now...' She walked along the sidewalk, wondering what Logan looked like now that he was twenty one.

XxX

Logan tossed another shirt into his duffel bag carelessly, annoyed at his obnoxious roommate bragging about his latest conquest. "...hot as hell and with an ass that-"

"Seriously dude," Logan cut him off quickly, "I don't care. I'm packing up, leave me alone."

"Oh that's right, Christmas with Mommy," his roommate sneered and Logan shot him a glare. "Just kidding man," he held up his hands in surrender. "I know what it's like to have divorced parents. Holidays suck balls."

"Yeah," he responded absently as he pulled his buzzing phone from his pocket. He smirked as Scotty's name came up. "Hey man," he answered, completely ignoring the middle finger from his roommate, "what's up?"

"Dude! You remember that kid you stole those dumbass rabbit ears from sophomore year?"

"Louise?" Logan questioned, ignoring the slight increased beating of his heart. He felt incredibly creepy for it happening, knowing the girl wasn't more than fourteen.

"Yeah! Man, some of the football team burned her ears!" Scotty howled with laughter while Logan's vision turned red with rage.

"What?" he questioned, his mind stuck on the fact that that was HIS thing, not some punk ass high schooler's.

"Yeah she apparently pranked the wrong guys because they got her back by burning those pink ears of hers." Logan sat on his bed heavily, remembering a nine year old girl following him, screaming words a little girl shouldn't know when he refused to give them back. He had kept them, not because they were anything he wanted to wear, but he liked the attention. Not from his peers, but from the cute determined little girl that refused to leave him alone. "So you'll be in town tomorrow right?"

"Yeah," Logan answered distractedly. "I gotta go man, I'll call you later okay?"

"O...kay? You alright?"

"Fine," he lied quickly. "I just remembered I need something." He hung up and shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed his hoodie and ran out of his dorm, his mind on the odd shop in the mall that he knew sold exactly what he wanted.

XxX

Logan practically ran into the store, making a beeline for the cute hats. He found exactly what he was looking for, the soft pink ears poking up proudly amidst the bear and cat ears. He slipped the soft fabric over his head, making sure it fit him a little snugly before pulling it off. He went to the register and set down his purchase, the cashier behind the counter looking at him funny.

"Is this all for today?" the bored voice asked and Logan nodded, a smirk on his lips.

XxX

"I can't find them Lin," Bob groaned that night as he flipped the last burger before they closed. "No one in town sells them."

"But Bobby," Linda whined as she set the plate beside the grill, "our baby girl is suffering! We have to replace them!"

"Lin I'm telling you," he said firmly as he slid the patty onto the bun, "no one has them! I even asked Marshmallow if she's seen them and she said no... Louise is just going to have to live without them."

"Bobby she has barely left her room since those idiots took her hat! And I'm worried because she's just given up, there's no rage, no anger!" Bob nodded defeatedly as he moved to take the completed burger out to the customer.

XxX

Logan walked into the almost empty restaurant decorated with cheap hanging snowflakes, a nervous smile on his lips. "Logan?" the unmistakable voice of Tina made him turn his head. She stood behind the counter, not much different than the last time he'd seen her.

"Hey Tina," he greeted. "How've you been?"

"Logan?" Bob's head appeared in the order window and Logan waved, balancing the box in one hand.

"Hey Mister Belcher... Where's Louise?" he asked and watched as Bob tried to discern why he was asking. "I uh, heard about what happened to her ears and... Well I," he held up the wrapped box, "I'm-"

"You found some?!" Bob asked in wonder and Logan nodded.

"Can I give them to her?" he asked hopefully.

"She's in her room..." Bob trailed off, obviously torn between seeing his daughter happy and the idea of a fully grown Logan being in her room.

"I just want to give them to her, then I'll go," he promised and watched Bob nod.

"Tina, let him upstairs."

XxX

Louise sat on her bed, her knees drawn to her chest. The hoodie was hot in the small room she refused to move out of, but she'd be damned if she took it off. A knock sounded on her door and she sighed loudly. "Who's there?" she called out. Her door opened and her jaw dropped in shock. "Lo-Logan?" she questioned, not quite believing her eyes. He stood there awkwardly, his hands on a box wrapped in snowflake dotted paper. Her eyes skimmed down his fitted red shirt over a black long sleeve one, down his relaxed cut dark wash jeans, to his worn out looking converse. She forced her eyes back to his blue ones, noticing his hair was more styled than the last time she'd seen him.

"Hey Four Ears," he said with a smirk and she glared at him.

"Just in case you didn't notice," she spat angrily, "I don't have my ears!"

"I-I know," he stepped forward, his legs bumping into the edge of her mattress. "I heard about what happened."

"Bet you were thrilled," she sneered and he shook his head.

"I was pissed," he said and she searched his eyes, finding nothing but honesty.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because... taking your ears is my thing, some entitled jackass doesn't deserve that," he said and shifted his weight. "Here," he held out the wrapped present, "this is for you."

"You got me something?" she asked, her mind flailing for a snappy remark.

"Just open it Louise," he chided and she grabbed the box from his hands quickly, ignoring her heart jackhammering in her chest as their fingers brushed together. She set the package on her lap and tore open the wrapping, staring for a moment at the taped up shoe box. "It's not shoes," he chuckled nervously as he sat beside her, "I just... didn't have another box." She gave him a soft smile and he beamed at her, his eyes softening in happiness. Without another word she pulled back the tape and opened the box.

Soft pink ears made her gasp, the sight so familiar for a split second she thought he had somehow made hers whole again. "Logan..." she barely breathed his name as she pulled the hat out of the box.

"I don't like the idea of my Four Ears being without them," he said firmly. "The second I got the call the only thing I could think was that I had to get them back to you... Here," he took the new ears from her fingers gently and pulled her hood down. A blush crawled up Louise's cheeks as he moved closer to her, his legs pressed into hers as he slid the hat on her head. He sat back a bit, a warm, fond smile on his lips. "There's my Four Ears."

Tentatively she reached up and brushed her fingers down the soft fabric. "Logan," she looked up at him in wonder, "thank you." He shrugged self consciously and Louise startled both of them by flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Slowly she felt his arms wrap around her waist and she looked up at him. Without thinking through her fourteen years to his twenty one, she pressed her lips to his.

XxX

Logan froze as Louise kissed him, his traitor of a heart speeding up despite their obvious age difference. He let himself kiss her back for a split second before jerking his head away. She stared at him, horror written across her features and he blushed violently. He let go of her and stood up awkwardly, not wanting to admit to anything. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and let out a nervous chuckle. "See you around Four Ears," he mumbled and turned to leave her tiny room.

"Logan," she leapt to her feet and grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her. He stared down into her dark eyes and pulled her against him, pinning her small body to his. "I like you," she mumbled against his chest and he pressed a firm kiss to the top of her new cap.

"I like you too," he admitted before he stepped from her vice like grip. "Call me when you're eighteen, I'm not going to jail for your jailbait ass," he teased with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "Email me sometime?" he asked and she nodded. With that he left her room, a smile threatening to curl up his lips as he walked away.

XxX

The doors to the restaurant banged open and Linda turned, a happy smile lighting up her face as Louise walked in with her new bunny ears. "Louise! You've left your room!"

"Where's Logan?" Tina asked and Louise shrugged casually.

"He left... Like I care where he went," she shrugged as she scooped up a plate from a deserted table.

"Louise Belcher you better have thanked that boy," Linda admonished with a finger wag and Louise smirked at the memory of how she thanked him.

"Oh believe me Mom, I did," she said as she walked into the kitchen to put the plate in the sink.

 **XXX**

 **I adore Louigan and I thought I'd give it a shot... What did you think? I made them seven years apart because as far as I know his real age is never stated but his mom is worried about him and college (in my school days, all the rich kid's parents started freaking sophomore year). Anyway, thank you for reading and leave me a review to let me know what you think! Much love, Leigh**


End file.
